PART 4 - Arnolds' Staff: Names that we could recall.

The following is a list of others (not at the reunion) whose names we could remember as we (Bob & I) sat around and brain-stormed for a while.
If you can add any - or if you know the whereabouts of someone on the list - please let me know at bhk@outlook.com.au

NAME	POSITION or DEPARTMENT	NOTES (Which may or may not be helpful)
Ledwidge, Ralph	Service Manager
Moffat, Tom	Service Supervisor
Kovacs, Anne	Telephonist/Reception
Fredericks, Lynne	Reception	Was "Miss Otis" in 1974 (?)
Tulk, Paula	Reception?	Blonde.
Freeman, Ken	Arnold-Otis Manager	Ken looked after the "conglomerate" company...circa 1974 -1975.
Saunders, Rob	Draftsman
Fitzgerald, Dave	Print Room
Maddox, Alexis (Alexa?)	Print Room
Maddox, Mitchell	Trainee Draftsman	Surfie. Always wore thongs...black ones on formal occasions.
Gray, John	Draftsman	Deceased (Just before the reunion we learned that John had died 3 years previously)
Yip, Tom	Draftsman
Hilder, Geoff	Draftsman	FOUND! Living in the Blue Mts.
O'Flanagan, Jan	Tracer
Achurch, Rob	Trainee Draftsman	Joined the police force.
Abernathy, Bob	Drawing Office?
Lawrence, Larry	Trainee Draftsman	FOUND! Living in the USA (see Oct. 11th. 2011 Update).
Willoughby, Ken	Electrical Shop
Lawrence, Gordon	Elec. Shop Foreman	Passed away April 1999, at Bateman's Bay
Church, Jeff	Electrical Fitter
Hill, Jim	Electrical Fitter
McIlwraith, Alan	Storeman
Carey, Jack	Welder
Falzon, Joe	Fitter
Telekki, Tibor	Turner (rams)
Edwards, Jack	Machinist
Sutton, John	?
Baxter, Brian	Service - Electrician
Coates, Bob	Service - Electrician
Nehls, Helmut	Service/Repairs - Electrician	George Farham coined the nickname "Crash-hat"!
Johnson, Ray	Service/Repairs - Assistant
Glanville, Paul	Service - Electrician
Hudson, Kevin	Service/repairs - Fitter	Rode a Yamaha motorbike.
Hudson, Dennis	Service/Repairs - Fitter	Brother of Kevin...also rode a Yamaha motorbike!
Jansen, Ron	Installation - Electrician
Aquilina, Peter	?
Fitzgerald, Reg	Service - Electrician
McArthy, Dennis	?
McArthy, Arthur	?
Byatt, Leo	Electrical Fitter
Fisher, Bert	Engineering	Reported to be in Germany.
Loussakian, Hratch	Engineering
Ayling, Brian	Engineering
Alan Andrews	Truck driver	Delivered lift "stuff" to sites.
McKay, Bruce	?

UPDATE OCTOBER 2011.
Larry Lawrence mentioned other names not on the list:- Wayne Woodward (Drawing Office), Roslyn "Roz" Hurd (Administration), Len Payne (Drawing Office - believed to be on the Central Coast somewhere), Steve Williams (??), Arthur Morgan (??) and "Morrie" Herring (Drawing Office - we believe that Morrie passed away back in the 1980s).

UPDATE MAY 2012
We have heard from Peter Rusadow, an apprentice between 1963 and 1968.

PART 3 - The Reunion: List of Attendees

Below is the list of those of us who were at the reunion and where they were living at the time:-

John Inglis - West Pennant Hills, NSW
Bob Deahm - Cromer, NSW
Bruce Kennewell - Canberra, ACT
Geoff Neville - Lane Cove, NSW (since deceased, July 2014)
Jack Gregory - Sydney, NSW (since deceased, July 2015)
Clive Smith - Sydney, NSW (since deceased, October 2017)
Jim Rainey - Sydney, NSW
Michael Yarrington - Central Coast, NSW
Peter Sait - Gladesville, NSW
Kevin Garland - Redland Bay, QLD
Garth Brook - Perth, WA (Since deceased, July 2015)
Bill Dyson - Sydney, NSW
Norm Tchilingurian - Sydney, NSW
Dennis Murphy - Granville, NSW
Hass Amburlah - St. Clare, NSW
Rodney Meek - Sydney, NSW
Michael Heath - Terrigal, NSW
Jack Wilson - Doncaster, VIC
Ian Davis - Perth, WA
Alan Skinner - Canberra, ACT
Stan Sek - North Richmond, NSW
John ("Joe") Goulder - Oatley, NSW (since deceased, May 2011)
Peter Nesbitt - Gilgandra, NSW (since deceased, 19th. April 2006)
Dante Coretti - Sydney, NSW
Charlie Giagodi - Sydney, NSW
Fabio Marchionni - Sydney, NSW
Joe Cordina - Bonnyrigg, NSW
Peter Rasdall - Sydney, NSW
Ray Hesp - Sydney, NSW
Tony Willis - Sydney, NSW
Norm Stalder - Port Macquarie, NSW

In addition to those on the above list, we also made contact with the following, who unfortunately were unable to attend:
Renee Little - South Coast, NSW
Martin Seturins - Meadowbank, NSW
Dave Rutter - Perth, WA
Warren Watt - Sydney (since deceased, April 2015)
Jim Tankard - Toowoomba, QLD (since deceased, November 2011)
Barry Stahl - Blue Mts., NSW
Tom Moffatt - NSW (since deceased, March 5th. 2016)

PART 2 - The 30-Year Reunion in June 2005

In 2004 I happened to contact Bob Deahm, a fellow Drawing Office inhabitant and one who chose to leave the company and head to pastures new when we closed in 1975.

The circumstances that led to our personal reunion were pure luck and fate: John Inglis happened to run into Bob in Melbourne - I had been in touch with JI sometime previously - he passed Bob's contact details to me and, bingo!, after 30 years we touched base once again and met up in Sydney in November 2004.

It was during this weekend of reminiscing that we hatched the idea of having a company reunion in 2005, which neatly coincided with a lapse of 30 years since Arnolds' doors shut for good.

So over the next couple of months we managed to track down over 40 employees, most of whom were delighted at the idea of getting together once more in Chippendale.

Some of those we contacted couldn't make it, for a variety of reasons.

Bob and I were also saddened to learn of John Gray's passing, John being one of our good mates in the drawing office during the 1960s.

There were many who we just couldn't track down, irrespective of the internet resources at our fingertips in 2004.

However, using the resources of emails, Google (Facebook was less than a year old back then) and numerous phone-calls we assembled a group from across Australia - WA, Victoria, Queensland, NSW and the ACT were all represented.

So on the night of Saturday 18th. June 2005 31 ex-employees, some with wives & partners, got together in the Landsdowne Hotel in Chippendale and had a loud, happy and wonderful time reminiscing, catching up and renewing old acquaintances after a 30-year pause.

PART 1 - 64 Years of Arnolds - 1911 to 1975

In (approximately) 1973 the Arnold Engineering & Lifts and Arnold Elevator Services businesses were taken over by the Otis Elevator Company and for a few short years operated under the umbrella of "Arnold-Otis".

Before the end of 1975, however, the business in Chippendale closed, with many employees transferring to the Otis (Australia) headquarters at Bankstown.

So "Arnolds" as we knew and loved it came to a quiet and sad ending after having been in business as an independent manufacturer of quality hydraulic lifts and chain-driven service lifts (dumb-waiters) for decades.

The photograph above - depicting the main premises (there was a small fabrication shop over the road and another a street away) - bears little resemblance to its present day appearance (below).

The Arnold building - now hidden by a more recent apartment block on the site of the park - has been converted to apartments and the entire area has become very yuppie-fied - something we would never have even contemplated happening back in the 60s/70s.

If you click on the street address it will take you to Google Maps "Streetview" for 14-16 O'Connor Street, Chippendale and you can have a meander past the front of Arnolds and see what it now looks like.

In June 2005, after some months of chasing people across the internet and through the telephone system, we managed a reunion of just over 30 ex-employees, held at one of our old favourite watering holes, the Landsdowne Hotel, on the corner of Broadway and Liverpool Road, Chippendale.

The entries that follow this initial post will highlight not only that reunion but will also present a selection of photographs, historical snippets and anecdotes from the company's past.